China, Russia “improving,” but still top piracy watch list

The US Trade Representative named China and Russia at the top of its Piracy …

China and Russia once again topped the US Trade Representative's "Priority Watch" list for intellectual property protections. The list comes as part of the Office's annual Special 301 report (PDF), which focuses on the adequacy and effectiveness of IP protection from US trade partners. The USTR said that although some improvements have been made down the entire list, there is still cause for concern over China and Russia.

The USTR cited China for having "high levels of copyright piracy," saying that trademark counterfeiting remains a serious concern. The Office pointed out that the US is making use of the World Trade Organization's dispute settlement process to help work out the kinks with regards to how China enforces IP rights. Russia, too, was guilty of "large-scale production and distribution of IP-infringing optical media," and the USTR said that physical and Internet piracy require more enforcement within the country. AllOfMP3 (based in Russia) and Baidu (based in China) were also cited in the report as creating flourishing virtual markets for copyright infringement. (The Pirate Bay, based out of Sweden, also got a mention.)

Argentina, Chile, India, Israel, Pakistan, Thailand, and Venezuela also made the USTR's list. The Office feels that education is key when it comes to combating copyright infringement in these countries, according to the report, and the US plans to help train prosecutors, police, and customs officials so that they can better identify counterfeit products.

The report wasn't all bad, however. Egypt, Lebanon, Turkey, and Ukraine were all downgraded from the Priority Watch List to the (regular) Watch List after they all made improvements to their IP enforcement since last year's report, and Belize and Lithuania were removed from the list altogether. Even China and Russia made improvements—the USTR praised Russia for increasing penalties for copyright crimes and doing more to combat unlicensed optical disc plants. China also made progress in attempting to reduce end-user software and strengthened enforcement against "company name misuse."

The lists haven't changed much since last year's Special 301 report—even with their progress, China and Russia remain serious concerns. China insisted earlier this month, however, that it was making serious efforts to combat piracy within the country. Officials said that they had arrested 4,322 people for piracy in 2007, and that they would be giving special attention to enforcing Olympic trademarks when the Games land in Beijing this summer.